Girls, Boys, and Blood
by queenofthelooneybin
Summary: In 2003, two teenage boys dissapeared. In 2009, a body is found in the woods. Rich boys, Aryan girls, Joker scars, fear, love, lust in a rich neighbrohood who did it? Secrets beyond comprehension are uncovered and romance is in the air. L/S, K/V. R&R!
1. Girls and Boys

_Friday, June 13__th__, 2003_

_(Boys and Girls by Good Charlotte)_

"_We are now seniors!" Jake McNeil yelled as he raised his soda can in jubilation. Jake was good looking in an almost pretty way, with long-ish brown hair and green eyes. The other three teenagers at the table followed his action, all three cheering as well._

"_Almost free!" Maddy Lane, Jake's girlfriend cheered and pecked her man on the cheek. Maddy was a portrait of Aryan beauty, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. "Only 15 months until my man is at Harvard! Whoo!"_

"_And you will be behind him like a good lapdog," Vinny Price muttered, his face dark. With red hair and green eyes, Vinny was Irish, for sure. Under the table, Jake delivered a hefty kick to his friend's shin. "Just kidding!' Vinny retracted, smiling the best he could. _

"_Only 12 months until we're grownups!" Dante Montgomery, whose house they were at, stated in a British accent. He was dark haired, with hazel eyes and a charm that oozed from his pores. The sound of heavy boots interrupted their revelry. Dante's step sister, Gwen Murphy walked into the room, her hair hiding most of her face. She was a year younger, with mousey brown hair and eyes that were as black and cold as a shark's. After an awkward pause, they resume their celebration. Gwen went to the refrigerator to get a soda and an apple. Jake looks up and they lock eyes. She arches an eyebrow, and he repeats the action. The left side of her face has been hidden by her hair and she tucks a large portion behind her ear. A scar runs from the corner of her mouth to her cheekbone, a la Heath Ledger's Joker. A moment later, Gwen leaves and Jake turns back to his friends, trying to shake off what he had seen. _

_(music fades) _

_All you can see are the trees. Jake's voice rings out, clear and afraid, "What the hell are you doing?" just before a shot rings out._

Xxx

Present Day

"Early," Scotty was able to say before a yawn overtakes him. "Why are we in the woods at seven in the morning?"

"Group of kids camping found a bone." Lilly explained as they followed the sounds of the crime scene techs. "When they did some more digging, they found a body."

"Yikes," Scotty commented. "Remind me never to go camping," he added, elicting a chuckle from Lilly. A few moments later, they reached the scene, where most of the bones were laid out on a tarp. Stillman was there, looking pleased in a grim way.

"We already got a name," he said. "CSU found a wallet with what remained of his jeans. Jacob Thomas McNeil, 17."

"Didn't he disappear in '03?" Lilly asked, the name ringing in her foggy brain.

"Yes. His father is Lucas Miller, the real estate tycoon."

"He's not missing anymore," Lilly said.


	2. The Remedy I Won’t Worry

"Jake McNeil, 17, disappeared June 14th 2003. The last to see was his best friend, Dante Montgomery. According to Dante, Jake left his house at one, with Vincent Price, 16 at the time. Jake's girlfriend, Madeline Lane had stayed at Dante's home until the next morning. The theory at the time was that Vinny had run away to New York and Jake had followed him," Lilly summarized the case. "Jake's father offered 100,000 for the return of his son, 150,000 for both boys."

"Those kids had to be loaded," Kat observed.

"The whole gang lived in Chestnut Hill," Lilly said. "All four of them within two blocks of the Montgomery house."

Pictures of Jake and Vinny were put up on a whiteboard. The ME had been able to deduce that Jake had died from a single gunshot to the back of his head, a .38 the killer. No trace of Vinny had been found yet, but it was only a matter of time before something was dug up. Considering Jake's fate, there were only two possibilities. Vinny was either dead or he had been the one to put that bullet in Jake's head. It was better to believe that Vinny was dead than to believe him a killer.

Both boys had gone to a private high school high school in Chestnut Hill, as had their friends. Jake had been an A student with dozens of extracurricular activities when included being on the lacrosse team, one of those all around good kids. Vinny on the other hand had been noted for having a temper, and was a C student with only the anime club as an activity. Both boys had been well liked by their classmates and there was nothing on the surface to suggest that there was a reason to kill the boys, but after six years, secrets would be easier to jar loose. Scotty and Lilly were going to Temple , were Dante was a senior while Kat and Vera were going to Chestnut Hill college, were Maddy was a senior as well.

Xxx

When Scotty and Lilly arrived, Dante was in the common room, with a group of girls staring up at him adoringly while a cluster of male hangers on soaked up the charm and co-eds.

"Dante Montgomery?" Lilly asked. The man turned (face flashback) and stood.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"We're here about Jake McNeil and Vincent Price," Lilly explained. Dante's face fell as he remembered his lost friends. He gestured the detectives to follow him into the hall, were he seemed to fall apart.

"Damn, I haven't thought about them in a long time," Dante said, pressing his hand to his forehead. "So, what, you found them?"

"Jake," Lilly said. "He's been dead for a while."

"Damn," Dante repeated. "I should have seen this coming. Jake would have never just run off without at least telling me or Maddy. Especially Maddy. He loved that girl."

"Did she love him too?" Lilly asked. Fear and horror flashed across a suddenly white face.

"How did you guess?" Dante asked. Of course, the detectives had not known about what appeared to be an affair between Dante, the loyal best friend and Maddy, the supposedly adoring girlfriend.

"Maddy stayed at your house until dawn, hours after Jake left," Scotty quickly lied. "It didn't seem kosher. There had to be something keeping her from him."

"We had been sneaking around for a few months," Dante sighed, while Lilly texted Kat with the new information. "Both of us felt bad about what we were doing, so we didn't tell the police."

"So the night that Jake was killed, you and Maddy were fooling around?" Scotty asked. "It doesn't give you much of an alibi."

"My step-sister saw us," Dante said. "Believe me, she hates both of us, so she wouldn't lie for me."

Meanwhile, Maddy was not so helpful. When Kat and Vera had confronted her with what Dante had told them, she had just stared at them with makeup laden eyes.

"So what if me and Dante were fooling around that night?" she asked, flipping her hair (face flashback). "It was a long time ago."

"From what we heard, Jake was pretty devoted to you," Kat said. "Maybe you got bored with him, decided to get rid of him."

"No!" Maddy cried. "Can I have her arrested for slander?" she asked, turning to Vera.

"She didn't tell people that, so no," he said, sounding tired. "What can you tell us about Vinny?"

"Nutcase supreme," Maddy said.

"What do you mean?" Vera asked.

"That boy was always doing something," Maddy groaned. "Stupid."

_The Remedy (I Won't Worry) by Jason Mraz playing_

_The Lakewood school, the school that the gang attended, had taken their 11__th__ grade history students paintballing, to teach them the art of war. It was a break time, but Vinny was still running around with his gun. From the dirt smeared on his face, and the twigs he had stuck in the strap of his face mask, it looked like he had really gotten into the whole thing. _

"_I am God!" Vinny yelled, still running around like a child that had eaten too much candy, a maniacal grin on his face. _

"_Shut up!" Jake yelled, but with a joking smile on his face. "So, Mad Maddy, you wanna go see the new Jim Carrey?" _

"_Sure," Maddy said, smiling up at her boyfriend. Dante was in a corner, smiling at the girl he was half crazy about. "I heard its really good. At least that's what Ebert and Roper said about it."_

"_Plus its Carrey," Dante commented, sipping his soda. The couple nodded and they resumed eating. _

"_Hiyah!" Vinny yelled and fired his gun in the air. _

"_Jerk!" a girl yelled. Gwen Murphy was glaring at Vinny, fresh paint on her face mask and she was clutching her stomach in what had to be extreme pain. "Apoligize. NOW!"_

"_Girl, my dad has a .38 special, so you better shut up!" Vinny yelled. Apparently shocked, Gwen stepped back, the scar on her face twitching like mad. She ran for the bathrooms, her heavy boots scattering the leaves. _

"_Vin," Jake went up to his friend. "Your dad has a gun?"_

"_Yeah, so?" Vinny said. "And I know how to use it."_

(End flashback)

"Jake was shot with a .38," Vera muttered as they parted company with Maddy. "You think that Vinny decided to use it?"

"Might explain why there isn't a body," Kat responded.


	3. Parentage and OOC Behavior

After what Maddy had told them, the team decided to focus on Vinny and the .38 that his father supposedly owned. It was likely that the fact that Jake had been shot with a .38 and the Price family owned one couldn't be a coincidence. The Price family was coming in to talk about Vinny, but they didn't know that the team knew about the gun.

Rose Price was in her forties, with an unlined face that had been aided but Botox. Kevin Price showed his age, but the way men do, so he didn't look terrible. They sat in Stillman's office, with solemn faces and anger in their eyes.

"Of course I owned a gun," Kevin snapped. "Everyone in our neighborhood had a gun at the time. When the man robbing our houses was caught, most of our friends put their guns in safety deposit boxes, but I kept ours. Of course, it didn't matter, because it went missing a month or so before my son disappeared."

"Are you suggesting Vinny killed Jacob?" Rose asked, her voice only gaining a hint of emotion, and her face barely moving at all.

"Don't get so emotional Rose," Kevin said to his wife, shooting a _not now look._ "Our gun could be anywhere. It doesn't mean that Vinny did anything."

"Have you ever fired your gun?" Lilly asked.

"Not for any criminal reason," Kevin answered. "But my youngest and Vinny fired soda cans off a table once. I saved the casings and bullets. You can use them to compare with anything you find."

When they left, Lilly and Stillman exchanged looks. For parents, they seemed to be very cold. Stillman knew that he would be a mess if something may have happened to his daughter, but these people were just plain cold. Maybe it was a Chestnut Hill thing, but it was still odd.

Meanwhile, Kat and Vera were in the break room, drinking coffee and fighting about the disturbing lack of cinnamon buns in the fridge.

"You ate my coffee cake!" Vera argued, gesturing wildly.

"Two and a half years ago!" Kat made a face, and a rude gesture. "Man, give it up!"

"I want my damn cake!" Vera yelled, causing a passing Rose and Kevin Price to stare at him like he was insane, which he actually is. But let's not get into that, shall we? Tired and obviously cranky, Kat stared up at him like one would a child throwing a temper tantrum. She often used the same look on her own child, and Vera caught that.

"I'm not your kid," he muttered.

"Thank God," Kat said. "Or else you'd be an emu farmer in Canada."

"An emo farmer in Canada?"

"Emu, stupid!"

"Why are you so cranky?" Vera was actually concerned, his face now morphed from worry. Usually his partner never got this mean, and he didn't want this to come back and bite him in the butt.

"Why do you care?" Kat snapped and went to get more coffee.

"I don't want you to shoot me," Vera said.

"Some boy has been calling Veronica," Kat blurted.

"A boy?" Vera asked.

"She's eleven! Too damn young for boys," she grumbled, sipping her coffee. "I don't want her to get into trouble."

"Like you did?" Vera said, not thinking. This made tears well up in Kat's eyes, and Vera panic. "Don't cry, for the love of God don't cry. You want me to get Lilly?"

"No, I'm okay," Kat wiped at her eyes, and glared at her partner.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Ronnie will be okay." Vera tried to be comforting. "Ronnie's a smart kid. She'll be okay."

"Thanks." Kat cast a glance at her partner, slightly suspicious. "But we've seen a lot of smart kids go down the drain, and I'm scared. Things I can't control are going to happen."

In a moment of insanity, Vera walked over to Kat and put an arm around her, patting her on the back. Rather than hit him, pull her gun on him, or at least yell, she looked up at him, amazement on her face.

"There, there," he was able to force out. Kat smiled, a chuckle escaping her.

"You are terrible at this," she laughed.

"I know," Vera said. "After work, you wanna grab a bite? I'll buy." Kat gave him a doubtful look. "I mean it this time!" he protested.

"Sure," Kat answered, and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know, for a fat-ass you're comfortable."

"The ladies love it," Vera puffed his chest. Someone coughed behind them, and they turned, letting go. It was Will, and he looked amused, shocked and a bit confused all at once.

"We got a guy here who says he has something on the boys," Will stated in his best imitation of a monotone. "You wanna talk to him?"

"Sure," Kat said, and ran out of the break room, her face burning. Will turned to Vera and began to chuckle almost evilly.

"Don't say it," Vera muttered, and poured himself some more coffee.

"I thought it was cute," Will was now laughing harder.

"Shut up."

Xxx

Author's Note- That was fun to write, though it was probably a bit bad. Please review! I know you're here!


	4. Addicted

According to what the man had told them, his name was Henry Lloyd and he had been a student at Our Mother of Consolation, where Jake and Vinny had gone. He had been trying to make a movie about his schoolmates that year and had found a tape that he didn't know had footage on it. What he had found had disturbed him enough to come to the police.

"How did you get this exactly?" Kat asked.

"I had been trying to catch some freaky library stuff and I got distracted and I guess I left the camera on. When I came back, I just turned it off and forgot. Yesterday, I found the stuff and decided to take a trip down memory lane," Henry said. "I knew Jake had been murdered and I felt it was my duty to give you this."

On cue, Vera pressed PLAY. The screen showed a lonely section of the library and some muffled voices off screen. A few seconds later, Jake stormed on screen.

"What the hell is your problem?" he asked someone off screen. "Why are you acting this way?"

'Go to hell!' a girl cried. 'You can't treat me this way.'

'Shut up, do you want people to hear?' Jake hissed. 'If you're going to act that way, I'm going to do something.'

'Are you crazy?' a girl stepped into the shot. She was small, with mousy hair and a scowl. Not Maddy Lane. 'You can't?'

'But I will,' Jake stated and grabbed her arm.

'What's going on?' Vinny came out of nowhere.

'Why are you here?' the girl pulled away. 'Does he know?' Jake nodded and the girl turned white. 'Don't say a word. Or someone will get hurt. Bad.' Then she made her exit. Kat stopped the tape and turned to Henry.

"You know the girl?" she asked.

"Gwen Murphy, Dante Montgomery's step sister," Henry answered.

Xxx

The last known address for Gwen Murphy was her mother and step-father's house. The house were Jake had spent his final hours. When Scotty and Lilly arrived, they found out Gwen no longer lived there.

"My step-daughter has problems," Ross Montgomery explained. "If you look up her record, you will find that she has been arrested multiply times for drug possession, assault and robbery. Gwen started using heroin when she was 16 and when she was 18, a psychiatrist diagnosed her with schizophrenia. Two years ago, she disappeared." Throughout his monologue, Tamara Montgomery was silent and only spoke to announce she was going to make coffee. Lilly followed her.

"You know where she is, don't you Tamara?" Lilly asked, her voice soft and friendly.

"Of course," Tamara said. "Unlike Ross, I have some sentiment for my child."

"Do you think Gwen could have hurt Jake or Vinny?"

"Her last night here, Gwen had no taken her medication for three days." Tamara's voice was cool, as if she was discussing the weather. "She tried to stab Dante with the fireplace poker, stole some credit cards and fled.

"Ross rescued us from the Badlands when Gwen was 13. He thought he could fix her. He was wrong."

Then, she gave Lilly the address of the garage where Gwen worked as the receptionist. The garage, Joe's Auto and Body, was located in Fishtown. When they arrived, they were greeted by a slim woman with dark blond hair, shark black eyes and a faded imitation of the Joker scar. Her eyes were dull, flat.

"May I help you?" the woman asked.

"Detectives Rush and Valens." They showed their badges. "Is Gwen Murphy here?"

"That's me," she said, worry furrowing her brow. "It's about Jake, isn't it?"

"Yes," Scotty answered. "His body was found a few days ago."

"I knew he was dead," Gwen muttered.

"We have you on tape threatening Jake and Vinny. Someone was going to get hurt. Five months later, Jake was killed. This makes you a person of interest," Lilly explained.

"You think I hurt him?" Gwen asked. "I would never hurt him!" she screamed, her eyes still flat, a contrast to her flat eyes. "I loved him." The detectives exchanged looks. Had teenagers always been so strange? Jake had been dating Maddy, who was cheating on him with Dante, whose step-sister had been in love with Jake.

"How did that come about?" Lilly asked.

"One day, he stopped by when Dante wasn't home," Gwen began

_(Addicted by Simple Plan plays.)_

"_Dante isn't home," Gwen said sharply, glaring at Jake, who stood on the porch. _

"_Can I wait for him?" Jake asked. "It looks like rain." In response, Gwen pushed the door open, almost hitting him in the face. She went into the kitchen, were she was smoking a cigarette, drinking a glass of wine and doing her homework. "That's a new way to do something dull." Jake smiled at her array of vices._

"_Shut up prep boy," Gwen answered. "Don't tell. Be cool for once." _

"_Can I have one?" Jake eyed the pack of Marlboros. Gwen stared at him, amazed. _

"_You smoke? The cover boy?" she asked as she tossed him the pack._

"_I am a man of many faces," Jake answered, lighting one. For a while, they sat there smoking and drinking, smiling at the secret they now shared. A strong gust of wind blew a lawn chair past the window and the lights went out. _

"_Crap, what are we going to do now?" Jake asked himself. _

"_I know," Gwen said boldly._

(End)

"That was in November. We were on and off again until he went missing," Gwen finished. They asked her a few more questions and left. When they got to the car, Scotty just stood by the door, his face twisted with emotion.

"She's so normal!" he punched the car. "Why didn't they have whatever she's on for Elisa?"

Lilly put a hand on his arm, but he spun her around to give her a hug of all things. Scotty just needed to feel a living soul pressed to him, it had been so long. Jasmine floated into his nose and he would never think of that without thinking of Lilly. In turn, she wrapped her arms around her partner, burying her face in his neck.

And that was how they stayed, until comfort had settled into their bones.


	5. Where is The love?

She had lost her mind. This came to her at six in the morning when she woke up with him in her bed. She was in shock for a moment, but then she remembered what they had done. And how much she had liked it. His arms were a safe haven from the chaos that was only a few feet out the door. His dark hair was on her extra pillow, which she kept as a just in case.

"We really did?" he asked her, and she covered herself quickly.

"Yep," she said, staring him right in the eyes. "You know we can't tell anyone."

"Wasn't going to," he answered, and got out of bed. "Is it okay if I go?"

"Not stopping you," she said and watched him dress. "See you at work."

Those were four words she thought she would never say, especially to him.

Xxx

"So let me get this straight," Vera said. "Jake was dating Maddy, who was banging Dante, whose step-sister was with Jake. It's some freaky circle."

"You got that," Scotty said. "But where does Vinny fit in?"

"What do you mean?" Lilly asked. "He was one of the group."

"No, but think about. Every one of them was keeping a secret, except for Vinny. The guy was a choir boy compared to the other four. It just doesn't feel kosher," Scotty commented.

"'Kosher'?" Vera muttered.

"You got a point there Scotty," Lilly said, in deep thought. "Maybe we should go back to Maddy and Dante. Now that we know some of their secrets, they may be willing to talk."

They decided to call them in, rather than go to them. It wasn't to convenience themselves but to throw the two off balance. Kat and Vera took Dante while Lilly and Scotty took Maddy.

Dante wasn't the nice guy he had pretended to be in their first interview. He sat in his chair, typing something on his Blackberry, a scowl on his face. Even though there was no proof that he knew anymore than he claimed, there was the chance that he held the key to what happened to Jake and Vinny.

"So, you didn't tell us about Gwen and Jake," Kat greeted him.

"Didn't know," Dante laughed. "Never would have suspected it, Gwen being Gwen."

"So she wasn't good enough for Jake?" Vera asked.

"The girl was a fucking schizo. So yeah, Jake was beyond her league. I didn't know they even talked, let alone were sleeping together.'

"Well, Gwen told us that they were hot and heavy for months. So maybe you got mad. Your best friend and sister? That would piss me off too." Vera laughed.

"Maybe she was lying to you guys. The girl has paranoid schizophrenia. She was delusional half the time back then. She thought there were people in the air vents telling her to jump off the roof and she kept telling my dad and her mom that the lambs wouldn't stop screaming or some shit like that."

That was something that they had not considered. Gwen could have made the whole thing up; a part of her illness she had convinced herself was true. It had seemed so romantic in its own way. The scarred freak finding love in the arms of the pretty boy. Except that it may have been a lie.

Meanwhile, Maddy was providing a story about Gwen as well, but rather than cite behavior, she had specific incident in mind for that.

"Okay, I'll admit it that I knew about Jake and Gwen. But I didn't like walk in on them!" Maddy cried.

"Then how did you find out?" Lilly asked softly, trying to be friendly.

"She came to me!"

_Where is the Love? (Black Eyed Peas) plays_

_Maddy was in Dante's kitchen, reading a magazine. The calendar behind her said that it was February. From the lack of seasonal red, it was likely it was past Valentine's Day. The sound of heavy boots announced the entrance of Gwen. Maddy looked up, a bit curious. It was Gwen's first day home since she had been attacked on Valentine's Day. Gwen was wearing sweatpants and a tank top, her hair almost hiding the large white bandage on her face._

"_How are you?" Maddy asked, causing Gwen to jerk her head up._

"_Fine," she snapped. "Why are you here? Jake's not."_

"_I'm here to see Dante," Maddy lied. "Homework stuff."_

"_Sure," Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm not blind. And sound travels in the vents Madeline. I would suggest being quiet." She then walked over to Maddy and leaned in._

"_If you think you can run around on Jake, you're wrong. He knows," Gwen hissed, her breath tickling Maddy's nose. "I told him a month ago. When you and Dante were on the ski trip."_

"_Why was he here?"_

"_Who says he was here? Maybe I was there. Maybe it was me and him. You see Maddy, I am smarter than you. Of course, that doesn't take much, but still. I am careful. Unlike you. Start being cautious. People get hurt all the time. And you have such a pretty face."_

_She poked Maddy's nose and left, humming as she did._

_End Flashback._

As Maddy finished her story, Lilly was beckoned out of the room by Stillman. Frannie was in the hall with him, holding a folder.

"Frannie has some interesting news for us," Stillman said.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"I first became suspicious when I read Jake's medical records. He broke an arm when he was 15 but the arm belonging to the skeleton had never been broken. Plus, the guy you found was 5 cm shorter than Jake's last recorded height. So I compared dental records. No match to Jake." Frannie rattled off.

"Than who's in there?" Lilly asked.

"Vinny Price. Dental records match perfectly."

Xxx

Sorry for not posting this sooner!


	6. Numb

"What do you mean Jake McNeil may be alive?" Rose Price asked. "Vinny is dead?"

"I'm afraid so," Lilly said. "We made the ID earlier today."

"Jake killed Vinny," Kevin stated. "It's the only answer. That's why the bastard went into hiding. He killed my son."

"Do you have anything to prove that?" Lilly asked.

"No, but I know it!" Kevin yelled. After a few minutes of conversation that got them nowhere, the Prices left. Then, Rose Price returned, calling to her husband that she had dropped her cell phone in the office.

"I know something," she said.

_(Numb by Linkin Park plays)_

_Rose was home early that afternoon and heard noises up in Vinny's room. Thinking they were noises of violence, she went up to investigate. The door was slightly open and she was able to see inside the room and not be seen by the people inside. Vinny was standing the middle of his room, his fists clenched in anger. Jake was staring at him, a confused look on his face._

"_Dude, you're what?" Jake asked, sounding as if he was repeating this in disbelief._

"_I'm gay," Vinny said in a shaking voice. "And I'm in love with you."_

"_You know I'm straight right?" Jake's voice was a mixture of shock and confusion. _

"_Yeah," Vinny sobbed. "But I can't help it."_

"_I know you can't," Jake went over and rubbed his friend's back. "Maybe in an alternate universe, we're together."_

"_Too bad you love Maddy," Vinny wept._

"_I don't," Jake said. Vinny then rushed his friend, kissing him on the corner of his mouth. "What the hell man?"_

"_You said that you didn't love Maddy, so I thought-," Vinny stammered, then he realized what Jake really meant. "Who is it then?'_

"_I can't tell you," Jake whispered. "I have to protect her."_

"_Always the damn savior," Vinny snapped. "You're a pain in the ass."_

"_I'm leaving. Call me when you calm down," Jake said and grabbed his bag. Rose then stepped into a room, quickly hiding herself._

_(End Flashback)_

After telling that story, Rose had to wipe her eyes. "I loved my son, but I didn't want him to be gay. He would have suffered so much if he had come out."

"Did you tell anyone?" Lilly asked.

"No," Rose said. "I didn't have time. This happened a few days before Vinny went missing."

"Why didn't you come forward?" Lilly asked.

"I always thought that Vinny had gone to his happiness," Rose said. "I guess he did, in a way."

Xxx

Meanwhile, Gwen had just punched out of work and was walking through the silent office to the front door. Everyone else had left for the day, and she had stayed late to sort through some paperwork. As she was locking up her desk, she stopped to look at what she kept in the bottom drawer.

A photograph, taken six and a half years ago. They were in the woods, standing in front of a tree. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and snow had settled onto their shoulders. The smile on her face still looked foreign, even now. He had saved her life, and she had killed him. A shiver went down her spine as she remembered. Blurs came to her, distant screaming and running. She clutched her head; the voices making her feel sick.

Get out, get out! I don't want to listen to you anymore, she thought. Oh god, she wished that she could have stopped it. But some things were meant to happen.

Lost in her thoughts, Gwen didn't notice the door open. She did hear the footsteps however.

"Get out of here!" she cried, and tried to hit them with her keychain. They laughed as the keys missed their faces and then pushed her to the ground. Her face smacked the floor and she let out a cry and they began to beat her. Soon, she fell into darkness, where she felt no pain.

Xxx

It was Scotty who first heard about Gwen's attack. He had been the first to arrive that morning, and Stillman had stopped him on his way out, to tell him that Gwen Murphy was miraculously alive after been raped, beaten and stabbed in the stomach. She was at a hospital in Fishtown, and had woken up at eight in the morning, somewhat coherent. Stillman was going to send Scotty to speak with her, since she had asked for him.

They had her in a section for victims (A/N: I don't know if hospitals sticks vics in their own section or keep them with other patients, but for this story, they do.), tucked in a corner. When Scotty arrived, she was awake, staring out the window.

"Why did you ask for me?" Scotty asked as he sat down.

"I asked for you because I know about Elisa," she said. "When she was in the hospital, I was her roommate. She talked about you all the time, showed me pictures. When I saw you a few days ago, I remembered."

"What happened Gwen?" Scotty asked. She told him what she was able to remember, which wasn't much. They hadn't found any DNA from the rape kit, so the doer had to have used a condom. Scotty believed that Gwen's attack wasn't random, since she had been digging up old bones. The killer had done it.

"Maybe," Gwen sighed when he told her his theory. "I should have kept quiet." They talked for a bit more, and he took her statement.

"Wait," Gwen called as Scotty was leaving. "She loved you Scotty. She would want you to take that chance."

With that in mind, Scotty went back to the station. He saw Lilly in the break room, drinking a coffee. With the words 'Take the chance' echoing in his head, he went over to her.

"Lilly," he said. She turned, raising an eyebrow. Grabbing her upper arms, he whispered "Hey," before capturing her lips with his.

Xxx

Please review…..


	7. Bring Me to Life

Jeffries walked into the break room, saw something and calmly walked back out.

"What's up?" Kat asked, noticing the look on his face.

"Why are Lil and Scotty making out in the break room?" Jeffries asked.

"They are?" Kat said. Jeffries nodded. "Huh. Nick owes me ten bucks."

"You bet on them?"

"Of course."

Vera made his entrance, eating a doughnut. He began to make his way to the break room, but Kat stopped him.

"You owe me ten bucks," she said.

"Why?" he barked.

"Scotty and Lilly," she explained. Vera's eyes went wide and he dug the cash out of his wallet.

"What's going on here?" he muttered. "Lil and Scotty are going at it where I keep my cake and last night you-." He was interrupted by a hefty kick to the shin from Kat.

"We are not talking about it," she hissed. Jeffries raised an eyebrow. If he was right then Scotty owed him 20 bucks.

Xxx

Everything was coming to light quickly. The doctor that had diagnosed Gwen when she was 18 had gone to prison in 2007 for falsifying patient records. Dante Montgomery had been charged with rape three times, but none of the charges had stuck. Kat and Vera were going to talk to the only woman still in the area, a Lauren Calloway. Gwen's records from the Chestnut Hill clinic were coming over.

Lauren Calloway had known Dante in college, but had since dropped out. She worked at a deli a few blocks from the station. She came to them, looking more tired than a 22 year old should. According to the report, in April of 2006, Dante had come into her dorm, on the pretense of borrowing notes for a class and had attacked her. He had also allegedly held a knife to her throat.

"I realized that I couldn't win," Lauren said when asked why she had dropped the charges. "The Montgomerys were older than God money. I'm from Kensington. There was no I way I could do anything but leave."

"How did you come to this realization?' Kat asked.

"I got a visit," Lauren said. "From two people who claimed that they knew what he could do."

_Flashback_

_(Call Me When You're Sober by Evanescence)_

"_May we come in?" a female voice called out from the hallway. Lauren opened the door to find two women in her doorway. Both of them were pale, with dark circles under their lifeless eyes. One was rather fat and the other one wore a head scarf that tied under her chin, hiding most of her face. _

"_Who are you?" Lauren asked. _

"_I'm Stacy, and this is G," the fat girl said. _

"_What do you want?"_

"_We know Dante," G muttered. _

"_I am gonna put that rat bastard in prison," Lauren hissed. "For as long as I can."_

"_He'll come after you," G stated dully. "If you try to tell."_

"_That's a chance I am willing to take," Lauren said. _

"_He can do whatever he wants with his money!" Stacy cried. _

"_That's why he has to be stopped," Lauren half-yelled. _

"_It is impossible to stop a monster," G's voice was flat. "Look what he did to me." She took off her scarf to reveal a scar on her face. Lauren gasped. _

"_Oh my God," she whispered. _

"_He can have you killed!" Stacy yelped. G nodded. _

"_I know for a fact," G said. "You will 'disappear'. It's happened before."_

_End Flashback_

"A few weeks later, I heard that Stacy McGill had hung herself," Lauren said. "And I knew Dante had something to do with it. So I left school after that semester."

"What about the other woman?" Vera asked.

"I never heard from her again," Lauren shrugged. "I figured that she had gone underground too."

The gears were turning in the detective's heads. If they were right, then the mysterious G was Gwen Murphy and Dante had been the one to cut up her face. But, in her statement to the police, Gwen had said that she had been attacked on her way home from a nearby supermarket.

If they were right about Gwen, then it meant that Dante had also had a hand in Jake and Vinny's disappearances.

Xxx

At first, Gwen's records had not indicated any signs of schizophrenia. Her first doctor, Michael Snow, had only cited depression as the cause for her mental state. A note at the bottom of Snow's final notes said to ask Gwen about Valentine's Day 2003. The, Dr. Emile Darcy had talen over and the rest was history. Scotty and Lilly were going to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to question him.

"I was an intern in 2003," Snow said when Lilly questioned him. "Working 72 hour shifts, living on coffee, the whole nine. I was working that night, when Gwen Murphy was brought in.

_Flashback_

_(Bring Me to Life by Evanescence)_

_Snow was at the nurse's station, sipping from a Styrofoam cup. His navy scrubs were stained with blood and coffee. The moment of peace he may have been having was rudely interrupted when screaming reached his ears. The cries came from a boy of about 16. he was running behind a stretcher that held a girl that was covered in blood. The boy's lacrosse jersey was also smeared with the dark red fluid. _

"_15 year old female, three stab wounds to the torso and one to the face," an EMT said. "Name on her learner's permit is Gwendolyn Caroline Murphy. Lives in Chestnut Hill."_

"_Is she going to be okay?" the boy asked, worry all over his face. _

"_Who are you?" Snow asked as they wheeled Gwen into the ER.  
_

"_Jake McNeil," he answered. "Is she going to die?"_

_Before Snow could answer, Gwen began to code, her heart rate dropping dramatically and as well as her blood pressure. The interns leapt into action, crowding Gwen. They were eager to be the one that saved the Chestnut Hill girl. Within seconds she was stable and on her way to be dressed in a hospital gown. One of Snow's fellow interns called him over to see something._

"_Look," she whispered. Snow could see the girl's thighs. They were bruised, some fresh and many old. There were also thin knife cuts all around, most of them fresh. _

_  
"Oh my Lord," Snow was able to choke out._

_(End Flashback)_

"So Gwen was raped and stabbed?" Lilly asked.

"Yes," Snow sighed. "But it hadn't been for the first time."

"What?"

"We found injuries that indicated long term sexual abuse. She never said anything, and her parents got a lawyer invovled quickly."

"One more thing," Scotty said. "Did Darcy have a preference as to what illness he claimed his patients had?"

"Yes," Snow answered. "Schizophrenia."


	8. Unwell

Note from the Dahlia- Almost done, sorry for the wait. Oh, the reason why we haven't met Jake's parents is because they have been out of Philly for a while. Now, we continue.

Xxx

"Just pulled Madison Lane's juvie records," Kat said, her face serious.

"She had a record?" Vera asked. They were alone in the bullpen that afternoon. Scotty and Lilly were on their way back from Dr. Snow and Will was down trying to track when the McNeil's plane would be coming in. Stillman was somewhere.

"Yep. In 2002, she was charged, but not convicted, with beating up a female classmate. Her motive was that the girl was a 'dyke and checking me out.' Maddy doesn't seem to care for the girls on the other team. And in 2003, they questioned her when a fire broke out during a Rainbow Youth dance. It killed three kids."

"Wow. Someone had an issue."

"Yep."

The silence following the dialogue was awkward. Nick broke it, a surprise to both.

"Are we gonna talk about it?" he asked.

"Talk about what?"

"That we slept together."

She hit him across the back of the head.

"We don't talk about that. Never ever."

"Why?"

"Because we were sad and drunk."

"You were sad and drunk. I'm just in love with you."

"Say what?"

Before any moves could be made, before a kiss, before she could tell him yes she loved him too, more than the world, everyone else decided to reappear. Will had nothing. The McNeil's would be in Paris for another three weeks.

"Jake was with Gwen the night she was attacked. The doctor also found evidence of long term abuse." Lilly announced their findings sadly.

"The step-father?" Stillman asked.

"I'm thinking Dante," Lilly stated. "He has a history of this stuff."

"I vote we bring him in."

Two hours later, they had the man in the box, smirking as if he knew that they couldn't touch him. But he was wrong, the way all villains are wrong. He didn't know that they knew what he had done, how he had ruined a child's life when he had been little more than a child himself.

"We talked to Lauren Calloway," Lilly announced. "Told us that she wasn't the first girl you raped."

"It's hard to rape a girl who wants it," Dante smirked.

"Gwen didn't want it. Isn't that why you tried to kill her all those years ago?" Lilly asked. Dante paled. They knew.

"I wasn't trying to kill her. I just wanted to scare her."

_(Unwell by Matchbox 20 plays)_

_Dante stood in the shadows, waiting for his step-sister to come walking by. She usually cut through the alley on her way home from the market. It had just started to get dark and she wouldn't see him until it was too late._

"_What the hell?" Gwen yelled when Dante grabbed her arm. A quick hand to her mouth silenced her. She squirmed and kicked, her legs flailing._

"_You're. Banging. My. Friend," Dante hissed, pressing harder on her mouth. She couldn't breathe. Gwen kept struggling, not knowing she was cutting off her air. She was able to wrench her face away and gasp three words._

"_You and Maddy," she choked. In response, he hit her in the kidneys. She groaned in pain and began to slump forward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his knife and began to scream bloody murder._

"_SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Dante yelled and punched her in the mouth. "Shit Gwen why are you making this so hard. All I wanted to say was leave Jake alone."_

"_I am not having sex with him," Gwen moaned, blood falling from her stained lips. "I love him too much to share."_

_In a quick motion, Dante pulled out his knife and swiped it at her face. Gwen screamed when the blade cut her face, creating the scar that would remain for the rest of her days. Something in her broke, silencing her for the rest of the short attack. As Dante finished, and Gwen's eyes shut, Maddy drove up._

"_Shit Dante you told me it would take five minutes. It's been ten," she growled and glared at Gwen's still form. "Holy fuck did you kill her?"_

"_No, at least I don't think so," Dante muttered. "What are we gonna do?"_

_  
"Dump her at Jake's," Maddy said and began to pull at Gwen. "He'll do something. He's retarded for her."_

_(End Flashback)_

"Maddy knew what you did?" Scotty asked.

"Her idea," Dante said. "The girl is colder than ice man."

Xxx

"Why?" Lilly asked Scotty as they drove through Chestnut Hill. They were going to get Maddy to confront her on what they knew.

"Why what?" Scotty asked as they slowed for a red light.

"Why did you kiss me?"

He put the car in park, right there in the middle of the street. The people behind them were unaware of what was about to transpire and so sat in their cars, waiting.

"I didn't want to lose you to someone else," he said simply. "Every year, someone or something almost takes you away. Every time you came back, I felt better. I thought I was being selfish because I didn't want to have to explain everything to a new partner. Then, today I realized why I didn't want you to go. I love you."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Maybe."

"Scotty, are you sure? Because if I say it back, I won't retract my statement."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Then I love you too."

As they leaned in for their second kiss, the car behind them, a red BMW, honked its horn. They laughed and started the car again. Finally, they knew what everyone else had known for a long time.

When they got to the Lane house Maddy was waiting for them by the door.

"So," she said softly. "You know."

"Dante told us everything," Lilly said. "How you didn't want to share him or Jake with anyone. How your parents raised you to believe gays were worse than killers. How you decided to get rid of your competition. But he wasn't in the woods that night."

"No, he wasn't," Maddy sighed. "I should tell you. I'm tired of running.

"I wrote a note to Gwen saying Jake wanted to see her in the woods. Vice-versa for Jake. Told him to bring Vinny because she needed him to hear what had been happening. Vinny was the only one who didn't know. It was dark…I was angry."

_Flashback_

_Maddy stared at the gun in her hand. She had taken it from Vinny's house the last time she had gone over. The boy had flashed it one too many times. In the glow of the moon, she saw Vinny standing by a tree. With ninja steps, Maddy walked behind him and stuck the gun to the back of his head. With a deep breath, she pulled the trigger. Vinny made a small cry and fell to the ground. _

"_What the hell was that?" Jake asked and ran to where Vinny lay. "Oh my god, what did you do Maddy?"_

"_I am not going to share!" she screamed and aimed her gun at his chest. "NOT WITH A FAGGOT!" _

"_You're a monster!" Jake yelled. _

"_You're sleeping with Gwen!" Maddy saw Gwen standing behind a tree, her eyes wide with horror. _

"_No, I'm not," Jake's voice was calm. "She's not a skank like you."_

_Maddy fired. Gwen screamed in pure anguish, falling to her knees._

_End Flashback_

"I decided to save Gwen for later. Jake was still alive, so I drove to New York and dumped his body in a landfill. When I got back to the woods, Vinny's body was gone. Gwen must have buried him."

"Why are you confessing?" Scotty asked.

"I'm pregnant and I'm realizing a lot of things I have done were wrong."


	9. Hold On

Okay, final chapter! This will be short, since its just finding out what happened to Jake's body and the little silent sum up.

Xxx

Will and Vera went through newspaper archives from the small town where Jake's body was dumped. The landfill in Truman had become condos in 2005. But no body had been found. There were bodies, but mostly newborn infants. No teenage boys.

But, there was something back in 2003. A boy had been found wandering the streets, bloody, shot and dazed, but alive. He had been claiming amnesia when he was found and still lived in Truman, under the name Jacob Price. Lilly and Scotty drove up there, spending the whole drive mentally preparing themselves for the possibility that it wasn't Jake. The world was full of coincidences. This could be one.

Jacob Price worked at a used bookstore, as assistant manager. The county had issued him some ID after their investigation concluded that he really didn't know where he had come from. When Lilly and Scotty arrived, he was at the counter, reading _The Collector_.

"Jacob Price?" Lilly asked. He looked up.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"We're from Philadelphia Homicide," Scotty said. Jacob closed his book and sighed.

"I've been expecting you for some time now," he sighed. "Did they confess?"

"Both of them," Lilly said.

"And how is Gwen?"

"Well. She saw what happened that night. She was one who buried Vinny's body. But, she doesn't remember it all. Only bits and pieces."

"How did Vinny end up with your wallet in his pocket?" Scotty asked.

"I asked him to hold it since my pants didn't have any pockets. Why?"

"We thought he was you for a while."

Jacob stood. "Do you want me to come back?"

"We technically can't tell you what to do, but it may be the best thing."

"I get off at two."

_Hold On by Good Charlotte _

_Lilly, Scotty and Jake walk out of the store and into the car._

_Dante is being led, handcuffed out of his dorm. Lauren Calloway and him lock eyes (face flashback for both). She turns to see the 'ghost' of Stacy watching._

_Maddy is being photographed (face flashback.) She puts a hand on her stomach._

_Vera and Kat put Vinny's box in the basement. He throws his arms around her and kisses her, right in front of Stillman, who drops his coffee._

_Scotty and Lilly stand outside the hospital, kissing as snow falls around them._

_Jake walks into Gwen's hospital room. She opens her eyes and smiles. (Face flashback for both.)_


End file.
